Chattering in anticipation, faculty and students filled the atrium on the second floor of the older section of the School of Public and Environmental Affairs. Upon the entry of a bagpiper clad in a purple tie and a green and purple kilt, cheers arose and the excitement in the atrium intensified.
The “Move-In March” at the SPEA building began at 10:45 a.m. with the purpose of getting as many students and faculty as possible together for an informal opening ceremony of the new Paul H. O’Neill Graduate Center.
“We wanted to hold an event that was student-focused, celebratory and short that made the students feel like they were getting this place,” marketing and communication director Jim Hanchett said prior to the event.
The idea to hire a bagpiper for this event came from wanting to match the noise level that the construction of the building had created. Just before bagpiper Ian Arthur began to play, executive associate dean of SPEA Michael McGuire said, “Make it loud, make it loud!”
The move-in procession made its way from the second floor atrium up the stairs to the third floor. Led by the bagpiper, the cheering procession then moved through the hallways of the third floor to the new addition of the building, back down the stairs and into the new front commons area of the O’Neill Center.
The crowd of people in the procession was so big that the bagpiping was inaudible toward the back of the group because it was so far down the hallway.
Once in the new O’Neill Center, students and faculty were able to enjoy refreshments and talk amongst themselves as Arthur continued to play in the commons until 11:15 a.m.
First-year graduate student Rich Eherenman sat at a table with other graduate students in the commons while Arthur played in the corner.
“It is worth all of last semester here, all the jackhammering,” he said. “It makes it worth the wait.”
Alex Raggio, another first year SPEA graduate student, agreed.
“With the reputation that SPEA has — it being a top-ranked program — now we have the facilities that are commensurate with the reputation,” Raggio said.
The construction of the new O’Neill Graduate Center began in January 2016 and was finished just at the end of winter break in January 2017. Though there are still finishing touches to be added to the new part of the building, McGuire said the classroom, elevators and technology were the first priorities.
The new addition was created with the intent to provide more space for graduate students and thereby create room in the older part of the SPEA building for undergraduate students.
“We were literally bursting at the seams,” McGuire said.
Created specifically with graduate students’ inputs and best interests in mind, the new center provides them with more space for classes and with larger areas for collaboration.
After the students and faculty began to leave the common area in the new center, Arthur was taken outside of the new building to play in front of the glass-windowed exterior that faces 10th Street.
People walking down both sides of the street held up their phones to record Arthur in action. The sounds of the bagpipes were clear even at the School of Global and International Studies when the SPEA building was no longer in sight.
“It was intended to be loud and glorious,” McGuire said. “It shows our excitement for being in the new O’Neill Center.”
